Isla Myers-Smith (she/her) is a global change ecologist and a Canada Excellence Research Chair from the University of British Columbia. She studies how ecosystems are responding as the planet warms in the Arctic and beyond. Myers-Smith works with her research group, Team Shrub, using tools from measuring tapes to drones in the Yukon Territory in northwest Canada and around the tundra biome. Myers-Smith has been working in the Arctic since 2002, spending cumulatively 3.5 years in the field. She also works to assemble and analyze datasets to understand change across the tundra biome. Myers-Smith’s research explores how rapidly an accelerating warming climate is leading to a ‘greening of the Arctic’. She has found that tundra vegetation is increasing, and where plants once grew, they are now growing taller. Tundra shrublines are advancing up slope, with shrubs grow more in warmer summers. Plants are greening up sooner in spring, but growing seasons are not becoming longer with warming. Myers-Smith has also been exploring how we communicate scientific findings and the impacts of climate change. She works with northern partners including Indigenous communities, photographers, educators, and immersive storytellers to visualize permafrost thaw, shrub encroachment, coastal erosion and flooding. She has received funding from National Geographic Society for the Greening Arctic and Arctic XR projects.

Dr. Anne Innis Dagg once said: “You must keep pushing, even if things are not going your way or seem… insurmountable. Just do it!” I will share my own perspectives on the need to push through during my research career in Northern Canada by taking chances on jobs, funding, hiring and coping with the unpredictable environment and wildlife. For the last 20 years, I have studied the widespread vegetation change of the western Arctic. The impacts of rapid regional warming are shown by the extensive greening apparent in satellite records and by vegetation change on the ground. Feedback mechanisms link vegetation change to the global climate system through permafrost thaw dynamics, surface reflectance and carbon cycling. Answering questions of when, where and why vegetation has changed is critical to understanding the mechanisms involved. My research group considers questions of climate change impacts in the Western Canadian North and around circumpolar Arctic from increasing shrub cover, altered plant phenology and accelerating permafrost thaw. I will share findings of cross-site and collaborative research involving field and lab studies through to satellite remote sensing conducted in collaboration with Northern partners. I will summarize the impacts of change on habitat for focal wildlife in Arctic food webs including caribou, migratory birds and insect pollinators. I will also share my experiences and lessons learned by conducting research in the Canadian North. Although we have improved understanding of causes and consequences of widespread transformations of vegetation, surprises are likely as climate change accelerates.